India has witnessed an unprecedented rise in the production of movies around the theme of rape, especially after the 2012 BBC report of the horrific Gang-Rape of Nirbhaya in Delhi that shook the en...

Volume 39, Issue 2, April-June 2024, Page 137-139.

Commentary on the philosophical poems by Narayana Guru, 1856-1928, philosopher-saint; includes text.

Work on Advaita philosophy; text, translation, study with interpretation.

Pt. 1. The lives and teachings of the three Ācāryas and Narayana Guru -- pt. 2. Ideas of the three Ācāryas unitively revisualised.

This paper offers a novel, secular account of the virtue of humility. There are only two such accounts in recent philosophical literature: one defended by Julia Driver, the other by George Schueler. Driver attaches the virtue of humility to people who underestimate their merits, or lack beliefs about their merits altogether. Schueler thinks that humility requires indifference to how we are regarded vis-à-vis our accomplishments. This paper brings out the limitations of those accounts and constructs a new one which is (...) free of them. The new account derives directly from the under-appreciated approach defended a century ago by Hastings Rashdall, who developed a secular (albeit religiously-inspired) account of humility according to which true humility reflects love for one's neighbour. After indicating the flaws in Rashdall's approach, I develop an account based on his intuitions. Specifically, I argue that humility requires suppressing our egos when they lead us to neglect or disregard other duties. Humility comprises two dimensions: a private dimension, for when we uphold self-regarding duties rather than succumb to the temptations of ego; and a public dimension, for when we display fidelity to other-regarding duties at the expense of the pleasures of ego. (shrink)

Life and teachings of Vallabhācārya, 1479-1531?, leader of the Vallabhachars, Vaishnava sect, and exponent of the Śuddhādvaita school in Hindu philosophy.

This article examines how affect allows us to view the relational form of dialogue, as built upon the work of Derrida and Levinas, to be a site of transformative possibility for students as they encounter and address issues of social justice and difference in the classroom. The understanding of affect that attends this form of dialogue demands from educators a re-visioning of how their educational arrangements and pedagogies might facilitate the transformative capacities of their students. Accordingly, the relational conception of (...) dialogue cannot be viewed as providing educators with another strategy or method for addressing issues of social justice and difference or for tapping into the transformative capacity of their students. Instead, it would be better viewed as pointing educators towards a different orientation towards education which is not focused upon producing particular outputs or outcomes, but does still indicate the need for a responsible response from the educator. (shrink)

What is your name, from where, of which caste, what job, how old? One who is free from such questions, his alone is beatitude. In the verdant countryside of south-west India, at the turn of the last century, lived the great poet-seer Narayana Guru. His message was very simple: 'Man is of one caste, one religion and one God / Of one same womb, one same form, with no difference at all.' Grounded in the mystical depths of life, he wandered (...) across the landscape, gently proclaiming justice and equality for all, interacting with the multitudes who came to meet him, electrifying them to be at their best, and galvanizing a peaceful movement to eliminate oppression in all its forms. Stalwarts like Rabindranath Tagore and Mahatma Gandhi sought his counsel. He inspired social reformers such as Sahodaran Ayyappan, Mahatma Ayyankali, Pandit Karuppan, V.T. Bhattathiripad, among others. Along the way, he composed a compact body of writing in prose and verse of exceptional potency. These are stimulating, deep and original explorations, entryways into a profound appreciation of the human condition. (shrink)

Original text with commentary on Ātmōpadēśaśtakam of Sri Narayana Guru, b. 1856-1928, work on philosophy of Ātman.

In this path breaking volume, leading researchers from psychology, linguistics, philosophy and primatology offer complementary perspectives on the role of intersubjectivity in the context of human development, comparative cognition and...

I argue that Kravchenko over-estimates the extent of the dominance of the traditional approach that the author criticizes, while under-estimating the continuing influence of different approaches in the history of language sciences. Karl Bühler’s Sprachtheorie is taken as a key example, and current developments drawing on 4E theories of cognition and niche-construction theory are outlined.

The discourse on labor engagement, underutilization, and unemployment has been a prominent focus in development literature, particularly in developing economies. These issues influence migration patterns and gross domestic output and, in some cases, contribute to youth restiveness. This study delves into the intricate relationship between investments in human capital, represented by spending on education and health, and its repercussions on youth employment outcomes in India. We gathered annual data spanning the years 1990 to 2021 from various Indian states. We employed (...) the bootstrap-based bias correction for panel fixed effects estimation techniques to enhance the analytical accuracy. The findings of our investigation reveal that investments in human capital, encompassing both private and government health expenditures as well as expenditures on primary, secondary, and tertiary education, exert significant but varying impacts on youth employment in India. These results carry important policy implications. To effectively address the persistent challenge of youth unemployment in India, it is imperative to prioritize consistent and disproportionate investments in education over health. This shift in focus could prove instrumental in reversing the trend of youth unemployment and fostering sustainable economic growth. (shrink)

This study investigated the role of dispositional mindful attention in immediate reactivity to, and subsequent recovery from, laboratory-induced negative emotion. One hundred and fourteen undergraduates viewed blocks of negative pictures followed by neutral pictures. Participants’ emotional responses to negative pictures and subsequent neutral pictures were assessed via self-reported ratings. Participants’ emotional response to negative pictures was used to index level of emotional reactivity to unpleasant stimuli; emotional response to neutral pictures presented immediately after the negative pictures was used to index (...) level of emotional recovery from pre-induced negative emotion. Results indicated that mindful attention was not associated with the emotional response to negative pictures, but it was associated with reduced negative emotion in response to the neutral pictures presented immediately after the negative pictures, suggesting better recovery as opposed to reduced reactivity. This effect was especially pronounced in later experimental blocks when the accumulation of negative stimuli produced greater negative emotion from which participants had to recover. The current study extends previous findings on the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and reduced negative emotion by demonstrating that mindful attention may facilitate better recovery from negative emotion, possibly through more effective disengagement from previous stimuli. (shrink)

The Gross Body The Katlia Upanisad declares: "The self conjoined with the sense- organs and mind (manas) is the experiencer ...

On the concept of Ātman in Hindu philosophy; text with Hindi translation and explanation.

Verse work on the Advaita philosophy, by a Hindu religious leader and social reformer from Kerala.

When an individual facing intractable pain is given an estimate of a few months to live, does hastening death become a viable and legitimate alternative for willing patients? Has the time come for physicians to do away with the traditional notion of healthcare as maintaining or improving physical and mental health, and instead accept their own limitations by facilitating death when requested? The Universities of Oxford and Cambridge held the 2013 Varsity Medical Debate on the motion “This House Would Legalise (...) Assisted Dying”. This article summarises the key arguments developed over the course of the debate. We will explore how assisted dying can affect both the patient and doctor; the nature of consent and limits of autonomy; the effects on society; the viability of a proposed model; and, perhaps most importantly, the potential need for the practice within our current medico-legal framework. (shrink)

Students often find themselves disconnected from foundations courses such as Philosophy of Education, citing the abstract nature of some of the ideas studied and a perceived disconnect from practical issues. Moreover, the place/space of the university classroom itself can be seen to contribute to students? disengagement and stunting of their critical capacities. In this article, we present two intertwined narratives. In one strand, we describe our attempt to secure our students? engagement in our course, Introduction to Philosophy of Education, as (...) well as remedy the forms of interaction that are called out of a university classroom through our employment of what we termed the pedagogical spaces project. This project is built upon the notion of a situated pedagogy and emphasizes a performative stance for students. We present a description of the pedagogical steps undertaken. Intertwined with the first narrative, we also present a mapping of how our very understanding of our project and its goals evolved. Theoretical grounding for our project occurs through theorists such as Howard Cannatella, David A. Gruenewald, John Martin, Harold Rugg, Augusto Boal, Martin Buber, and Mikhail Bakthin. Utilizing excerpts from student self-evaluations, final essays, and insights from theorists such as Megan Boler, we illustrate the ways in which students were able to holistically engage in critical and situated thought about familiar and dominant images of teaching and learning. (shrink)

Knowledge forms a crucial source for gaining competitive advantage and its sharing a dominant challenge facing several organizations. In this paper we propose a positive role of workplace spirituality on knowledge sharing intention by employing the theory of decomposed planned behaviour. We argue that WPS with its focus on inner spirit, meaningful work, sense of interconnectedness and alignment with organizational values and mission positively strengthens an individual’s knowledge sharing attitude, subjective norms and perceived behavioural controls by affecting the underlying behavioural, (...) normative and control beliefs. We also take into account the role of transformational leadership in creating a pro-social working environment, which facilitates knowledge sharing. In proposing a holistic and multi-level framework linking WPS and TL with KSI, this paper contributes to both, knowledge sharing and WPS literatures. (shrink)